Gray City Council members Loretta Lipsey, David Tufts and Benny Gray Jr. met with city water superintendent Russ Dorman and Matt Smith of the Carter and Sloope engineering firm in a called water committee meeting last Friday morning to explore funding options and possible rate increases to pay for a new waste water treatment plant.

The USDA recently denied the city’s request for a $2 million grant and loan to build a new $10 million 1.2 million gallon waste water treatment plant, saying the city did not need a plant with that much capacity.

Smith and Dorman told the council members that the city could still build a 1.2 million gallon plant and borrow the money for it from the USDA on a 40-year loan that would wind up costing the city about $18 million to repay, or with a 20-year loan from GEFA that would cost the city about $13 million to repay. The GEFA loan would have a lower interest rate but higher yearly payments due to the shorter period of the loan.

Dorman said he and Smith have been working to come up with a water and sewer rate schedule that would generate the money needed to pay for the plant.